Following the Box- Exploring an Archive

‘Never underestimate the power of a still frame. It stops time. It has the power to mystify moments’- Anonymous.

“This is about time. It’s about exploring India that has gone through changes yet remains same in some sense. It also tells us about America’s brief military presence in India towards the fag end of World War-II. But ultimately it’s about two American artists, who found a box of photographs captured in India, by some anonymous United States serviceman in 1945 and their story of exploring the mysteries inside the box,” Alan Teller.

Alan Teller and his wife Jerri Zbiral purchased a box at an auction in Chicago. The year was 1988. The box had more than 100 photographs stapled to a small brown envelop. The pictures were enigmatic and beautiful. They created a mystery around the box. There was no mention of the photographer or photographers.

“The quality of the photographs was astonishing. There were not snapshots or some random photos. They were all very careful setting and very sensitive pictures,” said Alan Teller.

The box remained mysterious until Alan decided to get the box to a class he taught at that time. At Lake Forest College, teaching Anthropology and Photography, he inspired his students to do some research on the box. And it was the students, who came up with the story that some United States soldier in West Bengal in 1945 must have take the photographs.

In 2010 the couple’s son got a grant to study music in India and it all fell into place. They travelled to West Bengal and explored the areas of the photographs. Some of the photographs in the box were reminiscent of the terracotta temples found in Bishnupur, West Bengal. When Alan and Jerri visited the town they found temples, which were very close to the photos but could not get an exact match. Similar was the case with quite a few of the places they visited.

They went back to Chicago and researched some more with the National Archives in Washington D.C. and thus came this exhibit.